herdman



'-(No Model;)

2 Sheets-Sheet l F. E. HERDMANL I ELEVATOR DOOR ATTACHMENT.

"No. 557,204. Patented Mar. 31, 1896.

iii 77266665.

2 N A M D R. E H ,B .u... M

' ELEVATOR DOOR ATTACHMENT.

No", 557,204. Patented Mar. 31, 1896.

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of Illinois, have irjven I "same parts in the several figures of the drawanti friction- Fri-ea.

FRANK n. H'F'RDMAN, oFIWINNE'r A, ILLINOIS.-

' ,ELEVATQR-DQOR ATTACHMENT.

- sr-ncrrrcnrron' forming pm of Letters Patent No. 557,204, dated and 3'1, lees. f

Application fine. July 22, 1895.

To all whom it rota/y),concern:'-

Be it known that -I, FRANK E. HERDMAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of -Winnetka,'in thepo tnty of Cook. and State. I ed certain new and useful, Improvements in Elevator-Door At tachments, clear and exact description, reference being had'to the accompanying drawings, forming a part'of this specifiea ion; This invention relafies to iniprovemen ts in attachments for'elevator-doors, and more par ticularly to that class of devices known as (door openingand closingdevices,bymeans of whichelevator-doors maybe opened and closed by. power other than the manual eil'ort of the operator.

g V This invention has for its prime object to enable lthe'elevator-doors at-any floor in a building to be opened and closed independ-j ent'of the otherual efiort on the partof the operator, and which attachment-is of such character that {reaches a floor, nor can it be left open'after the car leaves the floor,,although the door.

- maybe closed before thercar leaves the floor.

. top of the elevator-shaft and always held taut by said weight.

These and suchother objects as may herein? after" appear are attained by 1 the; device's illustrated in the acoompanying'drawings, in which I Figure 1 shows a diagrammatic elevation of the floors of *building, showing a door- 5- closing apparatn's embodying my; invention.

Fig. 2 represents an enlarged detail view of the act-uat'ng mechanisnn Figxfiirepresents a detailvi w of the control devices, and Fig. 4 represents a similar view of theoperatingoable'and its connections. y Similar letters of reference indicate the mgsi v drawings,-1et -A indicate the floors ing, B the doors of the elevator-shaft, and O a motor of any suitable kind,'thatshown in the drawings being a hydraulic motor. In

Fig. 1 the npper door is shown in an open' position and the lowerdoor is closed. TI1e.doo1'- .is hung at its upper edge upon ollers' D in any well-known and usual mann r, and at its lower rear edge is of which fie following is'a full;

. nected with thevalve tached to and carried tlon that itszpath will be crossed bythe ar doors under the control of the operator, and praoticallywithout man- 7 i plunger N thereof is raised, the door cannot be opened'until the car Referringby-letter to the acconi'panying 'of a buildversed and the water Serial m 556,661. on model) provided with a toothed rack E, adapted to door is in the closed position; shown more'cle'arly in Fig. 2, has three a'rins point of junction of the arms. in the form of adog adapted and arranged toefigage therack E; The arm H is adapted and arranged to. engage a co'ntroLca-hle I, con- J of the motor O. The third arm K preferably carries an antifriction-roller'L and is adapted and arranged to engage a eontroleplate adapted and arranged tor desires it may be thrown into sneh -posi K which latter will thereupon cause thecatcli F to swing upon its pivot and disengage the arm G from the door, and at the same time liftthe I admit pressure to the motor (J. IiVhen'pre sure is admitted to the motor thereby permit.- ting the operating-cable 0, which attached atits lower-end thereto, to be raised bya" weight 0 attached to its opposite end, the cable being trained 'overa pulley O at the n The cable 0 is provided with a series of buttons P and works through sleeves Q, attached to short chains or cables R,: Whiclilatter are in turn attached to the upper forward corners The normal position of the buttons is such that when: the the buttons occupy their lowest position and engagement with they of the doors.

core are closed are in, or uearly in, sleeves Q. '-After a door is released, as the or branches and'is preferably pivoted at the:

M, which latter-is at by the ear and is so that when the operz'tarm H, so as to open the valve J and O, the Weighted button rises the door is free to be moved back to an ope n position tinder the influence of 'a weight S, attached by a the upper rear corner of the door.

As soon as the control. device M is moved out of engagement with the catch-F the con .trol-cable I is moved downward under the in fluence of. the weight U and the valve J is reor other motor .il uid is discharged from the motor-cylinder. When. this takespla-ee, the weight of the inotor-plnngelbeing greaty; than that of the weight 0.

causes the plunger to return to its normal the opcratingecagisr C17 lower iosition movin I o chain or cable T'to" back to its original position, through which operation the button P at the open door will engage the sleeve Q of such door and cause the door to move forward to its closed position. In high buildings the weight of the motor'plnnger may be increased to any desired extent by the addition of a weight V. Of course as long as; the control device M remains in the normal position (shown in Fig. 3) it will pass by each doorwithout causing any operation thereof; but whenever the operator desires toopen a door it is onlynecessary to project the control device M, so that as the car moves to the floor it will engage the pivoted catch,when the operationsjust described will take place automatically.

Obviously many different forms of control devices may be employed for accomplishing this object, that shown in the drawings being an embodiment of such a device, consisting of a plate a, pivoted at b to the floor of the car and connected bya pair of toggle-levers c with a bracket 01 or any other stationary part of the car. Extending up into the car is a spring-actuated push-rod c connected with the toggle-levers c, which when depressed by pressure from the foot of the operator causes the toggle-levers to straighten out, as illustrated by dotted lines in Fig. 2, and thereby swingthe plate or upon its pivot into position to engage the pivoted catch.

Obviously the door cannot be opened at any floor until the elevator arrives at the door of such floor, and while the door may be again closed before the elevator starts to leave the floor the elevator obviously cannot leave the floor without the door being automatically closed.

This device is oxceedinglysimple, durable, and economical, has few parts to get out of order, is automatic in closing the doors, and

relieves the operator of practically all manual effort in both opening and closing the doors. By the disposition of the parts shown and described any door may be opened and closed independently of the other doors.

It will be observed that in practice the op crating-cable exerts a restraining influence upon the doors after thcyarc released by the catches, so that the doors cannot open any more rapidly than the cablepermiis. Inothcr words, as soon as a door is released by its catch the weight 55 thereof starts to open the door and brings the sleeve Q in contact with the button P, and as the sleeve cannot rise any more rapidly than the button thci'looris restrained, and the jar or shock of a sudden and rapid opening of the. door is thereby avoided. ()n the othc "llaiill ,'when the door is closed by the action of the operating-cable any jar or shock is avoided by the fact that the operating-cable is restrained in its motion by the motor, which cannot operate any more rapidly than the water is discharged therefrom by the weight of the piston threof.

1. An elevator-door attachment,comprising a door actuated to open when unrestrained, a catch for holding said door closed, an operating-cable for closing said door, a control-cable and motor for the operating-cable operated from the elevator-car, and means carried by said car for releasing said catch and actuating the controlbable, substantially as described.

2. An elevator-door attachment,comprising a door actuated to open when unrestrained, a catch for holding said doorclosed, a weighted.

perating-cable for closing said door, a conl'ol-cable and motor for the operating cable operated from the elevator-car, and means carried by said car for releasing said catch and actuating the control-cable, substantially as described 3. An elevator-door attachment,comprising a door actuated to open when unrestrained, a catch for holding said door closed, a weighted operating-cable for closing said door and restraining it in its opening movement, a control-cable and motor for the operating-cable operated from the elevator-car, and a control device carried by the elevator-car and adapted to simultaneously release said catch and actuate the control-cable, substantially as described.

4. An elevator-door attachment,comprising adoor opened under theinfluence of ,a weight, a weighted operating-cable for closing said door, a motor for the operating-cable and a control-cable therefor, a catch adapted to hold the door in a closed position, and a control device carried by the car and adapted to simultaneously release said catch and actuate the control-cable, substantially as described.

5. An elevator-doorattachment,comprising a door opened under the infl uonce ot a weight, a weighted operating-cable for closing said door, a motor for tho operating-cable and a control-cable th croi' or, a catch adapted to hold the door in a closed position, a control device FRANK E. IIERDMAN.

Witnesses: CHAS. B. BOW'EN,

ids-E SHIELDS. 

